The Darkness Review

A News Letter for Universal Tao Darkness Retreat Participants

Featuring Article:
Back to the Cave: Vipassana in the Dark
contributed by Dirk Al

1. In the Cave of the Honey Bee Forest

Participating in the Darkness Retreats at Tao Garden this year, I experienced an interesting return to the cave where I practiced Buddhist meditation a few years ago, which made me understand the nature of Samādhi much better and the way Buddhist and Taoist meditation come together on a higher level, though their paths set out into a radically different direction initially. In this article I will tell a bit about my experiences in the cave, how they came about and how they returned to me while being in the Darkness at Tao Garden. Then I will talk about Buddhist Meditation & the way it is taught by Thai monks, yet keeping in mind the essential unity of the experience and thus connecting Buddhist and Taoist practice, so that one may clarify the other. When I came to Thailand four years ago, I didn't have in mind to practice meditation in a cave at all, but to come work on a health resort. I actually came to the cave coincidently and when the monk showed me the way into the small meditation chamber behind the Buddha statues, saying "I think this is your place", I didn't think much of it. The space was rather small and low and not until the miscellaneous junk had been cleared away, could it become evident that indeed there was a stone bed there, adorned with a Buddhist monk's scepter and a snake headed walking stick, and the photo's of three Thai monks. Before I could even complain about the intended hardship of sleeping on a stone bed, or ask any question, the Abbott had already left, leaving me alone with the half dark gloominess of the cave. Shortly after a novice came in, who brought me a mosquito net (thank god), a thin mat, two blankets and a pillow. "Ajahrn say you can take the candle from store room", the young Thai monk said in broken English, and then disappeared. After he had left I reluctantly hung up the mosquito net and spread my mat out underneath it, to see how I could lie down on it. It took me a while to spread my limbs in the right manner so that lying down did not hurt too much. "So that is how it's done", I thought, when I felt surprisingly comfortable on the mat, after having seen Thai people sleep on any hard surface, "but, for how long?" 

The answer came quickly that very night: I could not sleep on the stone bed at all! The bed seemed to have an electric charge, which was spinning around my energy channels. The sensation was so strong, that I got up and lit a candle to inspect the bed, to see whether there was any electric wire there. I looked around the small cave and allowed my senses to get acquainted with their new environment. My nose tasted the spirit of earth and my ears analyzed the buzzing sound produced by the induction of the energy current spinning around the walls of the cave: there was no electric wire, the energy was just there... I rearranged my blanket and sat down in lotus posture. Although I was still not convinced that things were the way they seemed to be, I managed to quiet down my thoughts just enough to be able to focus more on my body. It was vibrating and just like my environment, it was giving off a deep humming sound. Feeling pressure on the back of my head, I became aware of something watching me. Turning my inner eye up to the crown as Master Chia teaches, I suddenly saw three lights spinning around my head. Observing the phenomenon made me quiet. They seemed to be playing with my Thrusting Channels and I was wondering about it, as one of them clearly attempted to enter my head. I resisted and fought the intruder by pushing out from the inside of my brain. It was then that I first heard the guiding voice of the monk: "Very good", he said, you are very good".  Then a Wheel appeared around my head, while I saw the Monk appearing simultaneously, and a voice spoke directly to my mind: "They who come here must turn the Wheel!" Feeling awkward I then replied: "But what about the others?", whereupon the voice said to me: "Big fish catches small fish, and also big fish is caught by even bigger fish- why should you worry about that? It came as a shock and made my brain stem tremble, while simultaneously strengthening my zest and self confidence. I pushed out stronger and followed the third light. It went through the wall of the cave, through the mountain, flying over the forests, sailing along until we arrived in a room full of glass cupboards of some sort, like a museum. "That is me", a voice came, pointing at a piece of bone. Instantaneously I saw the piece of bone develop back into a skull, spinal column, arms and legs bones and the like, a Monk appearing inside the Light Bubble, wearing the robe of the Forest Monks, his body, I noticed, had this peculiar color that one sees on some pictures of Theravada Masters: this strangely pale white yellowish color, difficult to describe but by the word: ascetic. That moment I felt like bathing in this very light, my breath became subtle and I knew intuitively that I was immortal.. 

2.About the Half Time and Upekha

Clothed in light I came back to myself in the cave and curled up in my blanket. I slept undisturbed that night and woke up early, eager to talk to my Abbott before he went out on alms round. I went to the spring and showered, then hurried along the path to the bigger cave, to see the Master. When I approached him, he was laughing and just said: "O, I think you can hear me quite well in your cave?" Then he went on with his business as if nothing special had happened.  I was baffled. This was something that I yet had to learn and accept: business as usual, even on the highest level of human consciousness: อุเปกขา Upekha as it is called, the state above Samadhi, which may be translated "equanimity" or even "indifference" as one of my other senior monks one time explained to me while in Bangkok. "There are some situations where only sheer indifference can be the way to maintain Samadhi, because any judgment of circumstance or action will certainly break up the union (Samadhi)". Especially nowadays, in the Half Time,  when things are very bad in the world, we need to contemplate Upekha to the utmost, because, though things are bad already, worse may come at any moment". In Sanskrit Upa-iksha, it literally means: 'to look down on things from the top" or: "to see things as they really are", in fact this happens naturally in meditation if one proceeds from Vipassana into the Jhana states, as I would see during the following 4 months I spent in the cave, and experienced again while attending the Darkness Retreat with Mantak Chia.

The Wheel in the palm of Maitreya

The 'half time' in Buddhism means that we are exactly midway between the appearance of the historical Buddha and the appearance of the next Buddha , the Maitreya or 'compassionate one'. Unlike the Western tradition, where our present age is the end time, in Theravadin tradition there  is no Buddha expected for the present moment., but the half time gives humanity a chance to learn well and cope with things themselves. This is quite contradictory to common belief amongst Westerners, who tend to confuse the 'second coming' of Jesus with the coming of an Avatara in Asia: neither according to Hindu nor to Buddhist tradition is the time due for such a divine incarnation. It is said though, that the future Buddha may be incarnated at the present moment, but nobody knows who it is..In this era it is particularly true to say that each of us is potentially running for future Buddha hood, for we all get a chance to learn and fix our 'karma', that is, to finish our job. The cave at Tham Pa Phung (The Honey Bee Forest) is specially dedicated to the half time, as one can see in the picture, where Maitreya is depicted behind the historical Buddha. The hand posture traditionally symbolizes the Turning of the Wheel, as in the hand the Wheel of the Dharma is depicted, but there is yet another meaning, simply: 'Do not fear anything'. The small meditation chamber is right behind the statues, it is marked by a bolted hatch in the wall, symbolizing the bolted door to (knowledge of) the future.

The most important key I got towards understanding Upekha, was through Master Mantak Chia during the Darkness Retreat: "If you try to sit cross legged all the time", he said, "you may arrive at the wrong conclusion that life is suffering all the time". Better to teach people how to practice, how to open (the channels) and stretch (the body),  so they may experience bliss". In fact, as it is said by some Monks here in Thailand, that the future Buddha will not meditate sitting in lotus position, but seated on a chair, he or she may very well be a student of Mantak Chia!

3.About Jhana States and the Microcosmic Orbit

Without any direct instruction of the Monk, I was slowly yet steadily guided up in ‘Jhāna’ every day, through intelligent forces which –for the lack of better words- I must call the ‘invisible Masters of the Temple’. Jhāna, or Dhyāna as it is called in Sanskrit, is a concentrated state of the mind, which is the result of the sustained effort to focus on the object of the meditation, be it the breath, a visualisation, meditative walking, or any other object. Once concentration has been established, the continued effort to concentrate will deepen the concentration and the result of this will be what is called ‘Jhāna’. Some locations, like caves, may further enhance this phenomenon, maybe because of the abundance of Earth Force, which in reference to Buddhist or Yogic tradition is called Nāga Spirit. Obviously the Nāga at that time in the cave was very strong, and my continued efforts to concentrate made it even stronger, so that I could even feel the force spinning around my body when I was just lying down to rest, and this forced me to ask the Monk to have a bed placed under the overhang in front of the cave, to sleep on during the day. Mostly the feeling was pleasant like a continuous massage, but it also made me painfully aware of my blockages. At night, while I did my meditative walking under the overhang of the cave, I could also see the energy as it spun itself around the trees and shrubs that are growing in front of the cave. Before starting my daily meditation practice in the inner cave, which would last all through the night, I would burn incense and chant Sanskrit prayers before the Buddha statue and then instruction for the different stages of the meditation would come from these ‘invisible Masters of the Temple’. The ‘teaching’ would come as waves of energy, which would somehow ‘curve’ or ‘bend’ my energy body in different ways. Sometimes the waves would come from “the top down”, so I would eventually see myself sitting in meditation with lights coming shining down on me from above, or rather coming coming up and around me from the Earth below. On other occasions the energy would come ‘in the horizontal’ and I would see myself reflected into a myriad of forms or a series of bodies. The result, however, would be the same as soon as I had ‘understood’ how to restore the unity between the up and down and right and left, front and back, and attain to Samādhi in my Heart, Third Eye, Crown, Solar Plexus or other center, experiencing tremendous bliss, quiet and wellbeing.

In the Temple things are like that, but I have been able to reach the same stage in the Darkness at Tao Garden, which has the advantage of complete darkness, whereas the cave was only half dark. The way Master Chia teaches, we don't have to depend on others, but we can create our own force field. The same is true for the higher levels of Vipassana (Insight Meditation) and the Jhāna States. Once we know the way to the Temple, we can go there again, but initially we may need someone to show us the way. Even if we find the way by coincidence, we may fail to recognize it and, like Parsifal, err our way for many years until chance again brings us back to it.

Thus Jhāna as in Pāli, or  in Sanskrit  Dhyāna, may be described as a  'concentrated state' in which the mind stays focused while going into changes of all sorts, first in the Form Plane (Rūpa Jhāna) and then in the Formless (Arūpa Jhāna). Now understanding Jhāna States is not so much about what one sees or experiences, which may be quite individual, but to understand how being in a concentrated state affects your interaction with nature. The first stage of Jhāna takes place on what is called the 'Form Plane', where being in Jhāna affects  the way in which the fibers of your 'Energy Body' bundle together in one-ness or deflect in split-ness, like seeing your own body split up into different forms, which then unite again when you approach One-ness (Ekāgrata). The second stage pertains to the 'Formless', where being in a Jhāna state directly affects the way in which you relate to existential parameters like space and time, consciousness (of being and non-being), emptiness (you don't occupy a place anymore) and  perception (you exist in the differential between perception and perceived). The Jhāna of the Form Plane must logically be the first, because it is not devoid of content, that is, it is still affected by the illusion of a separate identity and is therefore characterized by appearances which have some meaning to the meditator as a person. The Jhāna of the Formless Plane is devoid of personal content and therefore relates directly to our perception of nature itself. While meaningless to the meditator as a person, it bears the full meaning of nature, unfolding the essence of existence within us and literally ravishing away our ego into nothingness.

In modern languages like English, it is difficult to express these things, because we need so many words. In Pāli-Sanskrit the first of the formless planes is called (in one word): Ākāshānañcāyatanabhūmi, which literally means: space-infinite-not decaying-stretched out-existence and may be rendered: the realm of the infinite expanse of eternal space, which is the way that nature exists for itself. The second plane of the Formless Absorption (Jhāna) is called: Viññāṇañçāyatanabhūmi, which literally means: discerning (consciousness)-not decaying-stretched out-existence  and may be rendered: the realm of the infinite expanse of eternal consciousness, which is the knowing of nature itself. The third plane of Ārupa Jhāna is called: Ākiñçaññāyatanabhūmi, which would literally translate as: (being)- without anything-stretched out-existence, and is usually rendered: the realm of nothingness. The fourth plane of the Formless Jhāna is then called: Nevasaññānāsaññāyatanabhūmi, which, literally translated, would mean: neither perception nor non perception stretched out-existence, and is conveniently referred to as: the realm of neither perception nor non-perception. Of course it is misleading, as the reader may agree, to call these ways of experiencing existence 'realms', because they do not exist 'somewhere out there'. I have therefore baptized the Formless Absorptions as 'ways of relating to existential parameters', which may invoke yet other misunderstandings, but at least gets us away from the idea that the Jhāna is a 'state', 'realm' or anything like that. The problem is that the Sanskrit word Bhūmi may actually mean 'earth', 'realm', 'plane', but may also be rendered: 'existence', which from a deeper understanding of Jhāna would be the preferred translation.

There are thus five Jhana's on the Form Plane and four on the Formless Plane. To understand these things it is of great help if one knows about the Microcosmic Orbit:

Microcosmic Orbit	Enlightenment Factors	Jhana States of the Form - Planes
	Upekha (Equanimity, Indifference)	The first Jhana is composed of five steps: the meditator starts by being Mindful(0), that is, attentive to the body, the breathing or the object of concentration, whatever it is; by dwelling on this and through applied effort and Truth Investigation (1) of his/her own mind, experiences Energy(2) (transforms the sexual energy) Bliss, zest and rapture(3), after which calmness and happiness(4) arise and Samadhi (5), which is attained and maintained through Equanimity based on compassion. In the second Jhana Mindfulness and  Truth Investigation are taken together intothe meditator rises in four steps: Vitakka(0), 'sustained application', from which arises  Energy(1) (transforms the sexual energy), then Bliss, zest and rapture(2), Calmness and happiness(3), leading to Samadhi(4). The third Jhana consists of only three steps: Vitakka is taken in with Energy (spontaneous transformation of sexual Energy) (0), Bliss, zest and rapture(1), Calmness and happiness(2), leading to Samadhi(3). The fourth Jhana then, consists of only two steps: Calmness and Happiness(1),  Samadhi (2). In the fifth Jhana the meditator rises without steps: Equanimity(0) leads to Samadhi(1) Samadhi is maintained through equanimity; the secret of this plane is called Ekagrata, One Pointedness, see below.
	Samadhi (Concentration)
	Passaddhi (Calmness)
	Piti (Zest, Rapture)
	Viriya (Effort, Energy)
	Dhammavicaya (Truth Investigation)
	Sati (Mindfulness)
The Jhana States may be understood more easily, once we know how to work with the Microcosmic Orbit.

4.Upaçara Samadhi: The Dangerous World of the Monk Kuba 'Somchai'

As said above, the understanding of Jhana is not so much in understanding the occurrences, but in being able to control the energy. At the Cave I met a monk whom everybody called 'Somchai', which in Thai means 'interest'.  He made quite a crazy impression, as someone who is constantly listening to things or seeing things which are not there. One time my teacher said to me: 'if you continue taking interest in everything, you will end up like Kuba Somchai'. I immediately understood what he meant, but it took me quite a while to implement this to the full. It means one must be completely indifferent to anything that comes up in Jhana and give up searching for the meaning of things, which for a mind raised in European intellectual circles proved to be quite difficult, since we are keen to know or understand and control things. If one follows the leads found in Jhana, be they Nimittas (visions, appearances or voices) which arise from oneself or  those which come from external sources, one comes into a state called Upaçara Samadhi (Access Concentration), of which the Thai Theravada Master Luang Ta Mahabua says: "It is like a poisonous snake, which although dangerous, is sometimes kept by people who can benefit from it. (...) But when one has become skilled at Samadhi, one may let the Citta (Mind) go out and follow the Nimitta and find out what is taking place. It will then be of great value to link together the events of the past and future." If not for what Master Chia taught me, I think I would have gone crazy forever because of this. For one thing, it really helps to keep on circulating the Energy in the Microcosmic, so as to avoid sending all the energy up to the crown and wrongly believing to have found a way out of existence.  Then, I found, it was very useful to employ the Fusion and Cosmic Healing techniques, to help guide the energy down into the earth and insulate the body from receiving too high voltage. Once one has activated this plane, there is no way to stop it, and the energy can be enormous. To avoid being 'devoured by the universe', it is necessary to practice and understand the Fusion, so as to acquire a strong power of one-pointedness, and develop that further in the meditation (Kan & Li). Finally one needs to be able to control the curiosity of the senses, sometimes called 'the five thieves', and achieve what Master Chia calls 'Sealing of the Five Senses'. 

The first Jhana then, may be described as follows: (While in Jhana) one brings the energy up from the Root Chakra (Base of Spine), to the Door of Life and deeply analyzes it, that is, digests the Sexual Energy, then Cultivates Compassion in the Heart, Receives Divine Inspiration and Stabilizes Enlightenment (Smiling down to the Heart), resulting in Samadhi. Every consecutive Jhana skips a station, and circulates the energy in the Microcosmic faster and faster, like the wrappings of a wire around a metal core, ever attaining higher levels of energy, until one is able to bring the energy up from the Root Center to the Crown Center in one go. Being able to do this, from a Buddhist or Taoist perspective alike, makes one ready for 'spiritual independence', that is, you can also circulate your energy if some point is blocked by the emotional effect of 'what other people do'.  It may also be of great help while Channeling energies for the purpose of Healing.  Last but not least, being able to circulate the energy 'no matter what', is essential for having 'upekha' (equanimity) and, finally, Eka, that means One-ness., which is the key to any kind of Samadhi, including  Upaçara Samādhi:

5. About Ekagrata, Samādhi and 'Sealing of the Five Senses'.